Setback for UN drive to link cultures
Travel and tourism certainly have the power to link cultures and provide a stepping stone towards peace. Unfortunately as the world marked its 31st World Tourism Day on 27 September, an alleged sexual assault on a tribal woman in India's Andaman Islands has been reported. Police have arrested two non-Jarawa men in connection with the incident.
Exotic beaches make the archipelago a top holiday destination, but tourism is also leaving tribes increasingly vulnerable as sightseeing tours turn into 'human safaris'. This trend means recently contacted tribes are now in immediate danger from outside influences. The alleged victim of this latest assault was from the Andaman's Jarawa tribe. The Jarawa resisted contact with outsiders until 1998, despite a road being built through the centre of their ancestral lands.
Survival International's director Stephen Corry says the UN describes World Tourism Day as a chance to advance understanding and tolerance between peoples and cultures. However the use of the Andaman Trunk road is destroying this message by threatening the health and well being of a whole tribe. Corry says an alternative route must be provided. A local Andaman organization called Search is working with Survival to put pressure on the Indian government to develop a new route which will not disturb the Jarawa.
